Iran should take a look why nuclear-armed Pakistan is disintegrating in intramural bloodletting
I am writing with reference to Post Breakfast: "Iran, the region and the United States," by Muhammad Zamir (Feb. 16).
Although the Iranian Mullahs claim that their nuclear programme is designed strictly for peaceful uses, there is near universal consensus that Iran, with its vast reserves of oil and natural gas, had no need for highly expensive nuclear energy and in any case, the very nature of its secretive nuclear programme contradicts its assertion. There is another reason touted by many apologists for Iran that if neighbouring Pakistan is allowed to have nuclear weapons, Iran has also the right to acquire its own atomic weapons.
But Iran should take a better look at Pakistan. Despite its nuclear weapons, Pakistan has virtually disintegrated as a viable nation. Its military rulers are facing daily attacks from the extremists and have given up control of the tribal areas. While President Musharraf is hunkered down in his presidential palace, the whole country has been convulsing in bloodlettings. Before the very eyes of its security forces, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide bomber and scores of its troops are being killed daily by the Taliban/al-Qaeda and their acolytes. Pakistan has become a veritable "Terroristan" where most Pakistanis are scared for their lives. A suicide bomber near Peshawar killed 13, two officials with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission were kidnapped and its ambassador to Afghanistan disappeared at the Khyber Pass. All of this only a week away from national elections.
"It sometimes appears as if there is no government in this country," former interior minister Nasirullah Babar said in an interview on Feb. 12. Candidates are living in fear for their lives and cannot campaign. Senator Asfandyar Wali, a member of the Awami National Party (AWP) is hiding at home surrounded by armed security guards because suicide bombers are seeking to kill him. There have been two attacks on his party's election gatherings last week. Two candidates have been killed. All indications point to continued bloodbath after the election. What purpose the nuclear weapons will serve if Pakistan degenerates into total chaos? Moreover, with the Taliban/al-Qaeda and their sympathisers deeply infiltrating the armed forces and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), there is a genuine apprehension that the Pakistan army, with its nuclear arsenal, might fall into the hands of the extremists.
Iranian mullahs have proved to be extremists by the way they are treating their fellow Iranians who don't agree with them. Iranian author Azar Nafisi, who was expelled from her teaching position at Tehran University for refusing to wear veil, tells us about the brutality of the Shia Mullahs in her book "Reading Lolita in Tehran." Her story of Iran is a country where the ruling Mullahs "regularly hang people in the streets," --
a country where educated women are considered as enemies of the state. No one will feel safe with nuclear weapons in the hands of such brutal rulers. If they can slaughter their own people for no reason, they will have little compunction to supply nuclear arms to extremist groups. A hallmark of a good or bad government is the way they treat their own people. By that definition, the Iranian regime is definitely a bad government.
However, there is a non-violent way to topple such a regime by empowering the opposition groups to bring an end to tyranny through non-violent means. It may take time, but it will be far more effective. Finally, the never-ending bloodletting in Pakistan has shown that nuclear arms cannot help a country bent on destroying itself.
